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Adviser to the Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui speaks at the concluding ceremony of the National Book Festival in Islamabad on Monday. — APP

ISLAMABAD: The younger generation prefers reading English literature and takes more interest in internationally bestselling books. Books written in Urdu are read now mostly by middle-aged people and the older generations, said Adeel Haq, a publisher taking part in the National Book Festival.

Organised by the National Book Foundation (NBF), the four-day festival concluded on Monday at the Pak-China Friendship Centre.

“I have participated in expos in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad every year and during the last decade, I have observed that young people, especially students, have stopped reading books in Urdu. They know more about the books published in different countries and they ask for them as well,” he said.

Mr Haq added that he used to deal mostly in Urdu books in the past, but now knows more about books in English due to the changing demand.

He said new writers who write in Urdu now do not find fame as the older generations want to read the books written by Qudrat Ullah Shahab, Bano Qudsia, Asfaq Ahmed and other established writers.

“Most of the over 130 stalls at the festival have English books. Parents now want short stories in English for their children,” Mr Haq said.

He suggested that the government should not charge fee from stalls at book festivals because expos are held to promote book reading culture, where books are sold at discounted rates. Another publisher, Subah Sadiq, who had come from Jhelum, said the impression that book reading is declining due to the internet is not true.

“Those who claim they do not find time to read due to the internet did not have the habit of reading before the internet as well. We have now started using social media for the promotion of books,” he said.

He added that more books are sold at expos in Lahore and Karachi, perhaps because Islamabad is a smaller city.

Meanwhile, during a session at the event titled Quaid-i-Azam Kitabon Key Aaina Main, leader of the house in Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq said he has not seen a better politician than the Quaid.

“He gave messages of economic order free from exploitation. He was never faced with allegations of moral or financial corruption. The politicians today do not care about how they spend government resources once they come into power,” he said.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz said the two-nation theory succeeded only because of the Quaid. Local businessman Zafar Bakhtawari said over 500 books have been written on the Quaid’s life.

NBF Chairman Dr Inamul Haq Javed said enormous feedback is received during the book festivals every year.

“Thousands of people visited the more than 132 stalls in the expo the last four days,” he said.

Comments (10) Closed

Decline in readership for Urdu books is a sad commentary on the education system that requires students to memorize rather read books and understand them, and develop critical and analytical thinking!

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Omar

Apr 10, 2018 09:41am

Urdu books tend not to be accurate and full of factual errors with little background research, cross reference and correlation. The international language has and will remain to be English so its natural that most readers have headed in this direction as well.

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Sana Shahid

Apr 10, 2018 10:31am

As a nation we need to promote reading habit which is declining rapidly whether in English or Urdu. Short stories and readers play a vital role in learning language and developing a reading habit. Sadly, our children find Urdu a difficult language to read because parents and teachers have stopped paying attention to the Urdu language. Introducing Urdu reading material in a tender age will be beneficial.

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Akhtar Naveed Syed

Apr 10, 2018 10:31am

Urdu is an imposed language on the sub-nations of Pakistan being the language of refugees from India. English should have been made the official language as only then Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's advice would been fulfilled.

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Aravind

Apr 10, 2018 12:08pm

There is no point in reading Urdu books.

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R Sultan

Apr 10, 2018 01:54pm

Urdu may have the designation of our national language but the fact is that it is the mother tongue of a small minority and was imported from northern India. This could well be a reason for its gradual decline. Books in regional languages forming the mother tongue of different states should be encouraged for ready acceptance.

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mansoor

Apr 10, 2018 03:55pm

Urdu was foreign language and was imposed on 99% of population who did not speak/read/write it. Why so much fuss, it is natural.

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Yemeen ul Islam Zuberi

Apr 10, 2018 05:10pm

It is a fact that young children listen to their teachers, if the teachers tell their students that they must read books in Urdu and all Pakistani languages, and it is important to stay in touch with their own culture, I am sure the readership of our languages will increase. On the other hand writers must provide material in local languages for children.

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Syed Anjum Ali

Apr 10, 2018 05:44pm

This is a global fact and reality. English is the 'world language'and will increasingly dominate the21st century. Nations that lag behind in learning this language will be doomed. In any case, Urdu is a language artificially forced down Pakistani throats. It's not a native majority regional language here. Students should learn local/regional languages in school plus English and Quranic Arabic. English should be entirely adopted as official language at all levels. Urdu can be taught only to postgraduate students wanting to specialize in this, like Green or Latin in the west.

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Vijay B..

Apr 11, 2018 04:16pm

Tons of books still being written, read and sold in Hindi which is a sister language of Urdu in spoken terms, but the Urdu script is hard to learn while the Hindi script is probably one of the easiest and most scientific in the whole world. Replace the Urdu script with the much easier Devnagri script, teach it and see it flourish. Then Hindi and Urdu will become one language essentially.